in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock - Orson Welles playing Harry Lime.

Now that sounds like a total hyperbole, but still, it would be good to have the claim (dis)proved. So the actual questions are:

A. For given time periods (see below), were there significant inventions/discoveries/cultural-or-inventor-type personalities in Switzerland?

B. For given time periods, did Switzerland literally experience "X uninterrupted years of democracy and peace"?

To make it more precise, Wiki seems to imply that the era is between Alexander and Lucrezia, so to approximate the quote's "30 years" we will make it 1492 => 1519, between the start of Alexander VI's papacy and death of Lucrezia.

500 years, in case no good examples can be had in the first two periods

Since the movie came out in 1949 (and was about post-war period), this should theoretically be 1450-1950.

I'm going to cheat and make Einstein to be an ineligible example despite being in this time period.

UPDATE: Executive summary of answers: the skepticism was well founded, as the speech was busted in all 3 of its assumptions:

The Swiss didn't have much of peace and brotherly love, especially in Renaissance time frame

The Swiss had produced things/people of importance. In the relevant early timeframe, 2 great examples are Bernoulli family and H. Zwingli, and later on, Euler.

And, to top it off, as per comments, the Swiss didn't even produce the cuckoo clock! (that was Germany)

I can't remember the answer, but hold on, my Swiss army knife has an app for that:)
– Monkey TuesdayApr 27 '11 at 21:08

6

The cuckoo clock is a German product (from the Schwarzwald region, just north of the frontier with Switzerland). But who cares as long as tourists are buying?
– JonasApr 27 '11 at 21:53

1

@No longer here: According to Wikipedia, that speech was added by Orson Welles to fill in time. Welles claimed that he had adapted the lines from "an old Hungarian play".
– ESultanikApr 28 '11 at 12:36

3

@No longer here - this being a skeptics site, I assume you are prepared to back up that condescending generalization with citations?
– user5341Apr 28 '11 at 14:17

An easy answer to #3:

It was founded in 1863 in Geneva and has since received 4 Nobel prizes.

In February of 1863 in Geneva, Switzerland, the Société genevoise d'utilité publique [Geneva Public Welfare Society] set up a committee of five Swiss citizens to look into the ideas offered by Henri Dunant in his book Un Souvenir de Solferino
—source

Zwingly was a competitor of Luther, who died in Kappel while trying to convert the world. Calvin came later, and established "Calvinism" in Geneva, then allied with the Swiss Federation.
– JonasApr 27 '11 at 21:57

3

I'm torn between +1 for including Euler (I was so hung up on his St. Petersburgh period I forgot he was born in Switzerland); and -1 for listing Urula Andress before Bernoulli and Euler :)
– user5341Apr 28 '11 at 1:35

@DVK, it's just the order on the original site, I would have been torn choosing between Euler and Bernoulli for first place ;-)
– Sklivvz♦Apr 28 '11 at 1:38

2

OK, Bernoullis plus Zwingli makes this the most on-topic answer as far as "Renaissancyish" people pre-18th-century, so I'll accept this one, though all the answers were great!
– user5341Apr 28 '11 at 1:46

Swiss brotherly love 1450-1950:

It was one of the most savage and (for the Swiss) decisive battles of the age.

It pitted the French army, composed of the best armored lancers and artillery in Europe and led by Francis I, newly crowned king of France and a day past his 21st birthday, against the heretofore invincible Swiss Mercenaries of the Old Swiss Confederacy, considered the best infantry in the world.

The Stecklikrieg (Stäcklichrieg) of 1802 resulted in the collapse of the Helvetic Republic, the renewed French occupation of Switzerland and ultimately the Act of Mediation dictated by Napoleon on 10 March 1803.

The insurgence originated in Central Switzerland, the cities of Zürich and Bern as well as rural parts of the Swiss plateau (Aargau and Solothurn). After several hostile clashes with the official forces of the Helvetic Republic, which were lacking both in equipment and motivation (Renggpass at Pilatus on 28 August, artillery attacks on Bern and Zürich during September, and a skirmish at Faoug on 3 October), the central government at first capitulated militarily (on 18 September, retreating from Bern to Lausanne) and then collapsed entirely.

Notable historical Swiss figures 1450-1950

Leonard Euler (1707-1783), one of the most famous and most productive mathematicians of all time.

Leonhard Euler was by far the most productive mathematician in the history of humankind and one of the greatest scholars of all time. He was cosmopolitan in the truest sense of the word: he spent his first 20 years in Basel, and worked altogether more than 30 years in St. Petersburg and a quarter century in Berlin. As happens to only a very few scholars, Euler's work brought him fame and popularity, comparable to that of Galileo, Newton, and Einstein.

Henry Dunant (1828-1910) founded the red cross and won the Nobel peace prize.

Don't have the time for a nice edit - but the Swiss developed milk chocolate (Daniel Peter, for Nestle, a Swiss company), or DDT (Paul Hermann Mueller at Geigy, now Novartis, a Swiss company). The discovery of DDT was worth the Nobel price in medicine in 1948. Also, Brown Bovieri & Cie (now ABB) probably came up with some innovation, as well as Swiss watch makers.
– JonasApr 27 '11 at 22:15

This speech completely dismisses the extreme importance of accurate timepieces, especially to navigation at sea. While it was an Englishman who eventually won the Longitude Prize, Swiss Made(tm)[1] watches and Chronometers (ie Ulysee Nardin) were the gold standard from the mid 19th century to about 1970.

It's roughly tantamount to saying "The Americans didn't produce anything of importance aside from the GPS network". Even if this statement were true (and it's obviously not), this invention is of such stunning usefulness and importance that if this were the case, they still deserve heaps of praise for this one accomplishment alone.